Combination knife wiper and range cleaner



Aug. 18, 1953 J. C. PAULL COMBINATION KNIFE WIPER AND RANGE CLEANER Filed Jan. 9, 1951 INVENTOR. JACK C" PAULL A Tree/V6 V5 Patented Aug. 18, 1953 UNI TED STAT.

TENT OFFICE COMBINATION KNIFE WIPER AND RANGE CLEANER My invention relates to a. kitchen utensil combining in a single article a wiper for knives and a cleaner for the cooking surfaces of ran Heretofore it'has been customary for a cook to wipe off the cooking surface of a range with a "cloth bunched in the hand, and if the cloth were not grasped properly the fingers would be burned.

The object of the presentinventionisto p vide a holder for a cleaning pad which can be grasped readily in the handfor cooking surface cleaning manipulation, and which will hold the cleaning pad firmly during such operation. The holder, however, can be opened readily for reremoval .of .the cleaning pad for replacement by a fresh one or for washing.

In combination with the cooking 7 surface cleaning pad holder the cleaner incorporates a knife blade wiper having opposed cleaning pads which can .be conveniently pressed against the sides of a knife to be cleaned. Such'pads, while held securelyin placeduring-use, can be removed readily for washing.-

It is a further object to. make such an article of few parts and economical construction. so that it can be produced in large quantities and sold for a reasonable. price. Thearticle-is, however, rugge-d southat it .can-be used for a longtime without requiring replacement.

More specifically, it is anobject to provide three plates'hingedly connected generally alon one edge to swing between spaced positions'substantially-parallel andopen positions in which the two-outside places are swung-away from the center plate. The plates may be held insuch substantially parallel positions by latch mechanism'located' at the edges of the plates. oppo Cleaning elements are site their hinged edges. held between the outer plates and the intermediate plate and may be removed when the plates are spread in the open position described.

A further feature of the cleaner is the incorporation of a handle member alongside One of the outer plates, but spaced from it, which handle carries part of the latch mechanism.

Other features and advantages of my cleaner will be pointed out-in'the detailed description of the preferred embodimentof my cleaner shown in the'drawings;

Figure l is a top perspective view of the combination knife wiper and range "cleaner with parts broken away to show details of the con struction and showing the three plates in substantially parallel relationship.

Figure 2 is a top perspective view of the cleaner showing the three plates in spread. or open osition.

The cleaner includes an intermediate plate I connected by a piano hinge Hi to an outer plate 2 beneath the plate I. Opposite ends of this outer plate are turned inward toward the plate l,'the flange 26, formed by theplate endthusv turned in having curled fingers cooperating with.

curled fingers on the corresponding end of plate I to form loops for reception of the pin of hinge H3. The turned in portion 2i at the opposite end of plate 2 forms a flange located tov abut H the adjacent face of plate i at the correspond ing end. This 'flange is of a width suchthat when it abuts the plate i ln-this fashion the two plates i and 2 will be substantially parallel.v

Generally centrally of its length flange 2|. is interrupted by splits 22, and the projectionfrom the end of plate 2 between these slits. is. elongated to form the tongue ,23 ofllatch mechanism. Becausethe corresponding endlof plate l projects into a position overlapping. the flange. 2!, the central-portionof suchlplate edge has a notch H in it of a width and depth to .accom-.

When the tongueis. received in this notch'asshown in Figure 1,.the

modate the tongue 23.

plates I and 2 are held with their edges in reg-.

istry. Di-mples 26 may be pressed from tongue.

23 toward plate I at locations slightly beyond the edge of. flange 2i tosnap over the edge of.

fingers on such platenandion the-flange 20 of plate 2 incorporated in the hinge I 0. H The pin of such hinge extends-through the curled fingers of the-handle also. By such.incorporation of one end of handle 3 in the-hinge, the handlecan be swung freely relative-to plates i and-2 except as such swinging is. restrained? by latch mechanism interconnecting the oppositeends of the handle member and plates.

The inwardly turned-.endtiof-handle 3, 0p-

posite its inwardly turnedend BEL-is curved sothat it will lie alongside the tongue 23 when-the root of the latter is-receivedin'the notch ll of plate -l. Near the tip of the handleend-SI. is

an aperture $2elongateddengthwise of such-- endportiontla This aperture-is of-a width sufficient to receive atab 24 carried-by the tongue 23 and having its free endportion-bent from the plane of the tongue -towardwthe handle-endportion 3 I.

Whenthe-plate-Z is swung toward-plate I :so thatfltheflange 2! abuts such plate; the -resilience of the root of tongue 23 will swing it toward the handle 3 so that dimples 26 will latch these two plates together, as previously ex- One such bent handle end .30 has curled fingers interfitting atthe centralportion-of the edge of plate I with the curled plained. If the handle is then swung downward so that its tip slides past the outer end of the tongue 23 preferably curved away from the handle, the end SI of the handle may be moved toward the plate I until aperture 32 moves into registry with tab 24, which is snapped into such aperture by the resilience of the tongue 23. The parts will then assume the position shown in Figure 1, in which separating movement of the handle 3 and tongue 23 is limited by engagement of tab 24 and aperture 32, but the end of the inturned handle portion 3I may be moved toward plate I a distance substantially equal to the length of aperture 32 without unlatching the parts, because of the elongated shape of such aperture. To release the handle latch the handle is moved slightly toward plate I so that the tab 24 is unhooked from the lower edge of the aperture 32, whereupon the tongue 23 may be swung away from the handle to withdraw tab 24 from aperture 32, releasing the handle for swinging away from plate I to the position of Figure 2.

When the latch 24, 32 is in the released position shown in Figure 2, the edge of plate I adjacent to tongue 23 may be swung past dimples 26 away from the plate 2. A cloth C may then be folded to form a cleaning pad, as illustrated in Figure 2, and laid across the outer face of the plate 2 while the edge portions are folded back over the inner face of this plate. If, with the cloth held in this position, plates I and 2 are then swung together, the tongue dimples 26 will hold the plates in the pad edge clamping position of Figure 1. Handle 3 may now be swung toward plate I to engage its aperture 32 with the latch tab 24. The range cleaner may then readily be held and manipulated by the handle, to clean a cooking surface by swiping over such surface the portion of cloth C overlying the side of plate 2 remote from plate I. During such manipulation there is, of course, no possibility of the fingers holding the cleaner coming into contact with the heated cooking surface.

To provide a knife wiper, a further plate 4 is interposed between the handle 3 and the plate I. This plate has a flange 46 turned toward plate I, which flange is connected to the handle portion 39 and to the flange M of a resilient angle member by rivets 42. The other flange 43 of the angle member bears against the adjacent surface of plate I, and by its resilience urges handle 3 and plate 4 to swing away from plate I. The amount of such swinging is limited by engagement of tab 24 in aperture 32 of the handle end 3|, as previously explained. The anchored end of plate 4 is also somewhat resilient, tending to swing the end of this plate remote from flange 42 toward the handle 3. Swinging of plate 4 in this direction is limited by a tab 33 bent from the handle portion 3| toward such plate, against which the swinging end of the plate abuts as shown in Figure 2.

A sponge wiper pad 44 may be held against the face of plate I adjacent to plate 4 by helical tension springs 45 and 43 arranged parallel to each other, extending across opposite ends of the pad and having their ends hooked over opposite edges of plate I, as shown in Figure 2. A similar sponge wiper pad 4'! is secured against the face of plate 4 adjacent to plate I in a similar manner by springs. 48 and 49, ex

tending across opposite ends of this pad and having their ends hooked around opposite edges of the plate 4 as shown in both figures.

The length of slot 32 in the end of handle 3| is selected so that when the handle 3 is pressed away from plate I by the resilient angle member 43 to its limiting position permitted by engagement of tongue tab 24 in slot 32, the two wiper pads 44 and 41 will be spaced apart a reasonable distance, as shown in Figure 1, enabling the blade B of a knife to be slipped readily between these two pads. If handle 3 is now pressed toward plate I, the pads 44 and 41 will be pressed firmly together and against the blade B of the knife. If the knife blade is now drawn lengthwise from between these pads it will be effectively wiped clean.

When the sponge pads 44 and 47 have become soiled from use they may be removed from the plates I and 4 by swinging tongue 23 outwardly to release its tab 24 from slot 32 in the handle end 3|. The handle spanning plates I and 4 can then be swung away from plate I to dis-- pose the plates in the spread position of Figure 2. If the ends of springs 45, 45, 43 and 49 are unhooked from their engagement with the plate edges, the springs may now readily be withdrawn from between the plates and the pads 44 and 41' removed. Clean pads may then be inserted and secured in place by replacement of the springs 45, 46, 48 and 43. The sponge pads may easily be Washed for reuse.

I claim as my invention:

A cleaning device comprising two plates disposed in superposed generally parallel relationship, a handle at one side of said plates and spanning said plates, hinge means interconnecting one end of said handle and corresponding edges of said plates, a third plate disposed generally parallel to said two plates and secured to said handle at a location adjacent to said hinge means, latch means interconnecting the end of said handle and the edges of said three plates remote from said hinge means and operable to limit relative swinging of said handle and said plates, a cleaning pad covering the surface remote from said handle of the plate farthest from said handle and having edges inserted between said first two plates and clamped therebetween by said latch means, a wiper pad secured on the side nearer said handle of the plate of said first two plates nearer said handle, and a cooperating wiper pad secured on the side remote from said handle of said third plate.

JACK C. PAULL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 249,465 Ferguson Nov. 15, 1881 723,463 Heywood Mar. 24, 1903 907,337 Goodhue Dec. 22, 1908 1,203,903 Nystrand Nov. 7, 1916 1,714,586 Behner May 28, 1929 1,951,079 Zihlman Mar. 13, 1934 1,962,675 Zentmyer June 12, 1934 1,993,571 Soderberg Mar. 5, 1935 2,042,255 Haas May 26, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,669 Denmark June 20, 1904 

